It is notable that not all goons act this way -- Something Awful's rules explicitly state that defacing, harassing, or invading other forums or communities is not permitted and subject to account banning.[1] However, action is rarely taken against users who turn their online behavior into real-world harassment.[citation needed] Compounding the issue is the large volume of lurkers and unregistered users on Something Awful's forums who take it upon themselves to commit such acts of harassment, both on the Internet and in real life.

During the over ten years that Something Awful has been in existence, the attitude toward furries has relaxed in general,[citation needed] and there are a few posters who are tolerated while being open about being furry.

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The relationship between the furry fandom at large and Something Awful is strained, due in large part to the actions of the Something Awful writers' regular "showcasing" of personal furry websites in their "Awful Link of the Day"[2] feature throughout the early 2000's, and the resulting trolling and DDoS attacks taken on the owners of such sites.

Many online games (such as Second Life) refer to this trolling as Griefing. Some better-known goon griefer groups include the Second Life-based W-hat and the now-defunct Voted 5. While W-Hat has become a mostly benign group in recent years, the Voted 5 group was the more outright destructive group, and as a result was banned entirely from the Second Life grid in the fall of 2006.[4]